Vertical fluid-pressure turbine.



PATBNTED MAR. 8, I904.

G. WESTINGHOUSE. VERTICAL FLUID PRESSURE TURBINE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

i0 10mm.

i 9 5. 6 4 1 2 M% w 6 w 7 U 5 w 9 W A m 1. 2 WW H w o lw 1 W M I 5 4 5 3 o 1 A 6 M L 0 9 7i W 8 7 6 w w, z fim 4 1 6 5 .3 .5 NW5 55 4 a M 4 I 5 INVENTOR .PATENTBD MAR.- a, 1,904,

fin WESTINGEUUSE. VERTIGALFLUID PRESSURE TURBINE.

APPLIUATIOI FILED JUNE 24, 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I0 IODEL.

M T N t V N WITNESSES:

70min UNITED STATES IE'atented March 8, 1904.

PATENT .OFFIcE.

TO THE WESTINGHOUSE MACIilXlC (IULNIPANV A (,ORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

VERTICAL FLUID-PRESSURE TURBINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 754,400, dated March 8, 1904.

Application filed June 24, 1903.

a specification.

v My'invention relates to liuid-pressure turbines; and it has for 1ts ob ect to provide a machine ofthis character the rotary member of which shall have a vertical shaft and which,

together with the machine or machine member driven thereby, shall be supported by atmospheric pressure or by an elastic fluid pressure that exceeds atmospheric pressure to such degree as may be necessary in order to substantially relieve the shaft-bearingfrom end pressure.

'My invention consists of the means hereinafter described. and claimed for supporting,

the rotary members of vertical fluid-pressure turbines and the parts supported thereby, as above indicated, and in certain details of con-.

struction, as will hereinafter more fully ap pear.

It has been a general practice to construct all classes of engines with horizontal shafts, and where such engines have been employed for driving dynamo-electric generators the rotating members of such generators, usually the field-magnets, have been mounted directly upon the engine-shafts or coupled eitherrigidly or flexibly thercto.- Turbines having vertical shafts have been employed in certain cases; but where such construction has been adopted difiiculty has been experienced in suporting the weight of the rotating parts. i I propose to eliminate the diflicultics that have heretofore been experienced by supporting the ;turl iine-drum by an elastic-fluid pressure in such manner as to avoid the use of a stopbearing such as has heretofore been considered n eccssa ry the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is ieai section of a fluid-pressure turbine, i namo operated thereby being shown mainly in outline. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sec- Serial initiator). (No model.)

tional View on line 11 n of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3, is a detail sectional view of an automatic pressure-regulating valve.

The engine here shown is primarily designed for operation by means of steam and for convenience of description will be referred to as a stearrnturbine, without intention, however, of limiting the engine to the use ofany specific fluid pressure to the exclusion of others which it may be found feasible to employ in practice.

The frame or casing 1 of the turbine is provided near its lower end with one or more steam chests or chambers 2, into which the steam is introducedfrom a boiler at a pressure suitable for operating the engine. As here shown, a single steam chest or box is provided which extends nearly around the casing and the steam is introduced through aninlet pipe 3; From the steam chamber or chainbers, if there be more than one, expansionnozzlcs t lead to the interior of the casing l, in which is located a drum 5, here shown as com prising three principal parts, the lower part -6 and middle part 7 being fastened together by means of bolts 8 and the upper part or cap 9 being fastened to the main or middle part by means of suitable tap-bolts or screws 10.

In order to avoid all tendency to unbalancing the rotary member of the turbine by means of the impact of the steam upon the steam-using parts of the same, 1 preferably introduce the steam through three groups of nozzles one hundred and twenty degrees apart, as indicated in Fig. 2, though a greater or less number of groups might be employed and the shown. 1 have also shown each group as comprising three nozzles; but this is also subject to any desired variation as to the number of nozzles employed. i

The upper part or cap Sis provided with a hub 11, which is forced under heavy pressure vided with a similar hub 13, which is alsd fo'r'c'ed under heavy pressure upon the lower endpf the sleeve 12, the lower part 6 being further held securely in position by means of a ring spacing might be different from that which is upon a sleeve 12,and the bottom part iis pro- 2 14:, which is shrunk upon the extreme lower end of the sleeve 12.

Seated in the lower end of the sleeve 12 is the hollow upper end 15 of a shaft 16, which is forced into position under heavy pressure and receives the reduced lower end of the dynamo-shaft 17, this shaft being provided outside the turbine-casing 1 with an integral flange 18, which is fastened to a corresponding flange 19 on the outer end of the sleeve 12 by means of bolts 20. The shaft 16, in the part 15 of which thc lower end of the dynamoshaft is seated, is solid and extends below the drum 5 and is provided with a flange 21,

which rests against thelower end of the sleeve 12. Fastened to the lower side of this 21, by means of suitable screws or tap-bolts 22, is a wearing-plate 23.

The construction above described is employed because it lends itself to convenience of manufacture; but it is by no means essential and is shown and described merely as one of a variety of suitable structures and not in any way limiting the invention to such details.'

Seated in the bearing-housing 2 L below the plate 23 and rigidly fastened thereto is a ring 25, the interior of which is provided with a screw-thread to engage a corresponding thread in a cylinder 26,which surrounds the shaft 16 and between which and the shaft is aconsiderable circumferential space 27. The upper end of the cylinder 26 is extended to form a horizontal flange 28, the upper face of which normally makes a close fit with the lower face of the wearing-plate 23. The cylinder 26 is provided near its lower end with a-worm-wheel 28, which is keyed or otherwise rigidly fastened thereto, and mounted in suitable hearings in the bearing-housing is a worm-pinion 29, which meshes with the wormwheel 28, and when rotated serves to turn the cylinder,and thus raise or lower it, according to the direction of rotation, provision being thus made for any desired adjustment for taking up of wear or for any other purpose. The cylinder 26 is also provided with a small passage 30, which communicates at its upper end with oil-distributing grooves 31 in the upper face of the cylinder 26 and its flange 28. The lower end of the passage 30 is connected by an annular passage 32 to a horizontal passage 33, to which oil is supplied through a pipe 34, the waste oil being discharged through a pipe 35.

A suitable ball-and-socketbearing 36 is provided between the bearing-housing 24: and the shaft16in order to take care of any fiexure of the shaft 16 which may occu r in operation. The lower end of the shaft is also provided with a series of grooves 37 and annular flanges 38, which cooperate with corresponding rings 39 on a longitud inallysad justable cylindrical head to, levers a1 being prov ded, in such position that their inner ends enga with suitable sockets 4.2 in said cylindrical head, and screws 13 being provided for engaging with the outer ends of thcilevers, so as to adjust the head in the one direction or the other in order to take up wear and secure the packing engagement be' tween the annular flanges 38 and the rings 39 that may be desired in practice. Oil is supplied to these bearing devices through a pipe 44, and the surplus oil is discharged through the pipe 35.

The drum 5 is provided adjacent to the exhaust ends of the supply-nozzles 4 with a circumferential series of blades 4C5, the spaces between which open into an annular chamber4i6.

Located above the annular chamber 46 is a series of steam-using devices 47, which may be of any number, dimensions, and form which satisfactory operation may dictate, and since these devices constitute parts of my present invention only to the extent that they are parts of a satisfactorily operative turbine I deem it unnecessary to give any detailed description of them. After the steam passes the upper or last set of steam-using devices it exhausts into a chamber 4L8, which communicates by means of a passage or passages 49 with suit able condensing apparatus, (not shown,) so that when the turbine is in operation as a condensing-engine a considerable degree of vacuum will be maintained in the upper end of the casing above the rotary parts. .By reason of this vacuum atmospheric pressure in the space 50 between the loiver end of the drum and the lower end of the casing will serve to either partially or wholly support the drum, depending upon the degree of vacuum and the area of that portion of the drum which is subjected to this pressure. The air may be introduced to the space 50 through any suitable small inlet,

that here indicated being a pipe 51, provided with a suitable valve 52. I also provide a drain-pipe 53, having an ordinary trapM for conducting away any water which may result from condensed steam that may leak into the space 50. In case atmospheric pressure is not sufiicient to support the rotary member of the turbine and the rotary member of the dynamo driven thereby the fluid-pressure introduced into the space 50 from a pump or compressed-air reservoir through the pipe 51 maybe increased to the desired degree by adjusting the valve 52. In case the air-pressure in the space 50 becomes excessivc-that is, more than is necessary to float the moving parts--the wearing-plate 23 will be lifted an almost inappreciable degree from the flange 28 ofthe cylinder 26, but sufficiently to relieve the pressure in the space 50 to the necessary extent.

in order to prevent so far as possible the leakage of steam into the space 50, I provide suitable packing-rings 55 near the lower end of the drum at its maximum diameter, and I also provide the casingwith an annular flange 56, between which and the corresponding porto its seat by means of a coil-spring 66, supplemented by fluid-pressure, the space above the diaphragm 65 being connected, by means a of a pipe 67, to the space 50 in order to provide the fluid-pressure. It follows from this construction that if leakage steam accumulates in the chamber 58 it will pass into the ,lower part of the valve-casing 60 and 'through the space around the valve-stem into the space above the partition .64 and below the flexible'diaphragm 65. The air-pressure in the space-50, which is also exerted above the diaphragm 65 by reason of the pipe con-' nection between the two spaces, in conjunc- 6o degree of artificial pressure.

is here shown'and' described.

tion with the spring 66, will normally hold the valve closed; butjif the leakage steam increases suflicientlyso that its pressure actuates the diaphragm the valve 62 will be opened and the steam will be exhausted from the chamber or space 58 to the exhaust-passage, the arrangement being such that any desired predetermined pressure in excess of that in the chamber 50*may be maintained in chamber 58. A further safeguard is provided against the leakage of steam in the form of a pipe 68, which connects an annular space 69 above the packing-rings 55 with the steamusing devices at a workable point above the annular chamber 46. I

nomical means, it is to be understood that such pressure may be applied to a separate piston located in a separate cylinder and of such dimensions'that the rotary parts may be 7 supported thereon. It wili also be understood that other fluids than compressed air may be utilized and that the form, dimensions, and relative arrangementof parts may be varied from what It will be further understood that the invention may be utilized in a non-condensing engine by employing supporting fluid under a suiiicient I claim as my invention 1. In a fluid-pressure turbine having a vershaft, means for supplying the propelling fluid at or near the bottom of the turbine and means for exhausting the same at the top, in combination with means for applying such supplemental fluid-pressure to the bottom of the rotary member of the turbine as to substantially support the weight of the rotating parts.

2. In a fluid-pressure turbine having a vertical shaft and operated by fluid-pressure introduced at or near the bottom and exhausted at the top, a body of compressed fluid between the bottom of the rotating member and its casing to receive the downward thrust of the rotating parts due to gravity.

3. In a fluid-pressure turbine, the combination with a casing having one or more steam: chests and supply-nozzles, of a drum'having steam receiving and utilizing members and means for supplying fluid-pressure,between the lower end of the drum and the casing to receive the downward pressure exerted by gravity upon the moving parts.

4:. In a fluid-pressure turbine having a vertical shaft and having a partial vacuum above its rotary'member, means for applying fluidpressure to the bottom of the rotary member to so supplement the upward atmospheric pressure as to substantially relieve the shaftbearing from the weight of the moving parts.

5. In a fluid-pressure turbine, the combination with a casing and a rotarymember having suitable steam-utilizing parts and. a ver' tical shaft, of means for applying fluid-pressure to the rotary member in opposition to gravity in such degree and over such surface.

fluid to the casing beneath the rotary member and means for automatically adjusting said pressure in accordance with the degree of vacuum in the exhaust chamber or passage.

7 The combination with a vertical steamturbine and a dynamo-electric generator supported and driven thereby, of means for subjecting the rotary member of the turbine to an upwardly-acting fluid-pressure of such degree as to float the moving parts of the tur- IIO bine and dynamo and thus relieve the shaftbearing from the weight of said parts.

8. The combination with a vertical steamturbine and adynamo supported and driven thereby, of means for supplying fluid-pressure to the lower end of the rotarymember of the turbine. and means for'regulating the fluidpressure in order to float the moving parts.

9. The combination with a vertical steamturbine and a dynamo supported and driven thereby, of means for applying regulated fluidpressure to the lower end of the turbine to floatthe moving parts and a pressure-regulating valve controlled by the resultant of the gree as to wholly or largely relieve the shaftopposing pressfines of the supporting fluid hearing from the Weight of said parts. 0 and leakage steam. In testimony whereof I have hereunto sub- 10. The combination with a vertical stemnscribed my name this 15th day of June, 1903. 5 turbine and a dynamo supported and driven GEO. WESTINGHOUSE.

thereby, of means for applying an upwardly- Witnesses: acting fluid-pressure to the moving parts, in- WESLEY-G. GARR,.

dependently of theshaft-bearingof such de-- BIRNEY HINESJ 

